Artarivanwrote:You added "like the boys do" Why did you add that? Why do they have to? No, why compare? Why any comparison? I read somewhere it's an insult to yourself to want to be like someone else. Is that true?

We're on the subject of why girls have less confidence than boys when it comes to leadership. This is like comparing a woman's salary to a man's salary. It's not an insult to want want to be paid the same as a man for the same job, nor is it an insult to want girls to have the same confidence as boys when it's clearly a helpful trait when it comes to things like leadership. You sort of have to compare when you're examining gender inequalities.

I am aware that bitch also means female dog, but I am also aware that it is most commonly used as derogatory term for people—women in particular. Simply because a word is not in a dictionary does not mean it is not a word. And it is not the purpose of language to be clear.

I mean, take a look at “their,” “there,” and “they’re.” Seriously, what the fuck’s up with that. They all sound exactly the same.

As a person who also teaches language, I tell people that worrying about pronouncing something wrong is only going to make them do it more. It is much better to use the context of a situation to determine what the meaning of a word is. And likewise, if you make a mistake in the pronunciation of a word, it is likely that who you are talking to will understand through context. Pronunciation will come in time.

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

God! how I love the informal "you"

Going back to bitch, the phrase “I want to go to the beach,” with beach pronounced more like bitch, is likely to be said after the question “where would you like to go on vacation?” In such a scenario it is almost impossible for the person asking the question to misunderstand what the other means.

As a more fun example, you can replace “their,” “there,” and “they’re” with a single word in writing with almost no loss to meaning (I’ll make one up for example). “Thar some people that go thar to drink thar beer.”

I do not mean that you could say whatever fuck you want to someone and expect them to understand it, but I do mean that if enough people use a word to mean the same thing, it’s a word. After all, words are just sounds with meaning that we collectively believe in.

Howdy, for example, is actually a contraction of “how do you do.” But nowadays, if you tell someone how you’re doing if they say howdy to you, you’re stupid.

Egregious means “really fucking bad,” but it originally meant something really good. Then everyone started using it sarcastically.

Sorry, this was long. Wanna be friends?

I can agree with most of those, except I guess I'm stricter with pronunciation. Lol..

I understand that language is always evolving and changes are perfectly fine. I just don't like the idea that "bitch" when referring to women is used in a derogatory way. I also know that some people are trying to be cool by calling their friends "bitch" in an endearing way. And though I raise an eyebrow every time I hear it, I just tell myself "to each his own."

What I really meant in my first post was that instead of banning a word like "bossy," why not ban words that are more disrespectful and rude like 'bitch,' or 'cunt' You know what I mean?

First, "banning" a word just gets it replaced with a new word with similar or worse meaning. The correct terminology for someone who suffered a mental handicap was "retarded" derived from the concept of "mental retardation". Then that became offensive. So then it changed to something else. Was it mentally handicapped? Then something like "developmentally challenged"? Every time the new word becomes unacceptable after it acquires baggage. Banning the word bossy will not help and does not focus on the real issue. I also use that word in reference to anyone trying to exercise an inappropriate level of authority, whether they are male or female is immaterial to my usage of that word.

Second, being bossy doesn't work out as a good leadership quality in anyone. Being charismatic is good. Being confident is good. Both of those can happen without any bossiness. Female leadership is fine by me. Like any leader they will either prove themselves worthy of being followed or not. I understand some people divide these kinds of things along gender lines and that the real issue the campaigners have is people using arbitrary gender roles to define women and girls. I just think this campaign is probably a bad way to address that.

I am aware that bitch also means female dog, but I am also aware that it is most commonly used as derogatory term for people—women in particular. Simply because a word is not in a dictionary does not mean it is not a word. And it is not the purpose of language to be clear.

I mean, take a look at “their,” “there,” and “they’re.” Seriously, what the fuck’s up with that. They all sound exactly the same.

As a person who also teaches language, I tell people that worrying about pronouncing something wrong is only going to make them do it more. It is much better to use the context of a situation to determine what the meaning of a word is. And likewise, if you make a mistake in the pronunciation of a word, it is likely that who you are talking to will understand through context. Pronunciation will come in time.

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

God! how I love the informal "you"

Going back to bitch, the phrase “I want to go to the beach,” with beach pronounced more like bitch, is likely to be said after the question “where would you like to go on vacation?” In such a scenario it is almost impossible for the person asking the question to misunderstand what the other means.

As a more fun example, you can replace “their,” “there,” and “they’re” with a single word in writing with almost no loss to meaning (I’ll make one up for example). “Thar some people that go thar to drink thar beer.”

I do not mean that you could say whatever fuck you want to someone and expect them to understand it, but I do mean that if enough people use a word to mean the same thing, it’s a word. After all, words are just sounds with meaning that we collectively believe in.

Howdy, for example, is actually a contraction of “how do you do.” But nowadays, if you tell someone how you’re doing if they say howdy to you, you’re stupid.

Egregious means “really fucking bad,” but it originally meant something really good. Then everyone started using it sarcastically.

Sorry, this was long. Wanna be friends?

I can agree with most of those, except I guess I'm stricter with pronunciation. Lol..

I understand that language is always evolving and changes are perfectly fine. I just don't like the idea that "bitch" when referring to women is used in a derogatory way. I also know that some people are trying to be cool by calling their friends "bitch" in an endearing way. And though I raise an eyebrow every time I hear it, I just tell myself "to each his own."

What I really meant in my first post was that instead of banning a word like "bossy," why not ban words that are more disrespectful and rude like 'bitch,' or 'cunt' You know what I mean?